Puppet
by terra hotaru
Summary: Something's definitely amiss in Twilight Town. People are "moving" out and the town is getting quieter and quieter. Not to mention that I am also starting to see things... Really strange things... AkuRoku.


**Puppet**

**One year**

… I look out the window… Another person… gone… without a trace. My eyebrows furrow slightly… This is odd. It's been happening for about a year now. One by one by one, everybody vanishes. This town is getting emptier and emptier. Some say that a lot of people moved out of town to get a better life somewhere else… But… I've been here for 19 years now and not a single family moved out until now. This is a close knitted community, why would everybody just suddenly move out like that?

Everyone's taking is very lightly… Too lightly for my taste. It's as if people moving out doesn't matter… This town will surely become deserted soon. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much about all this. Demyx is gone… Kairi is gone… They're all gone. They didn't even tell me that they're moving away. And I thought we were friends.

Jumping out of my bed, I stretch. Heaving a deep sigh, I walk downstairs to the dining room. "Mom? I'm hungry. Food?" I ask nonchalantly.

"Roxas, Roxas. Food's always in the fridge… you know that…"

I frown a bit… Well, mom's acting strange… That's for sure. "Fridge… yeah. Right. 'kay." I walk over without asking any question and open the fridge. My eyes go wide as soon as I smell the strong rancid odor coming out from the opened fridge. I quickly gag and cough. "W-what the hell? Mom, what did you put in here?"

"What are you talking about, Roxas? You're being strange…" Mom says in a very monotonic tone.

"… It smells awful in there…" I sniff, but found that there is no more smell and the fridge looks normal. Some cheese, milk, leftover bread, lettuce… nothing out of place. I blink a couple of times before recollecting myself, reaching inside and grabbing the leftover bread, planning on making myself a sandwich, but pauses when I feel that someone is grabbing my hand from inside the fridge…

I quickly draws my hand back and look inside the fridge… Nothing… Just bread, cheese, milk… I shake my head… I am not myself today… Mom giggles and looks at me with a dead expression on her face. "What's wrong, Roxas…?" She keeps giggling as she swing her butcher knife down on to the cutting board… I retch when I saw that there's a cat on the cutting board. As I look away and look back, I notice that mom is only cutting carrots… "I'm making stew…" she said in a singsong.

… I quickly step back. "I… I think I'm gonna go to my room…"

"Good idea, Roxas…I'll call you when lunch is ready… okay…?" Mom says, making odd pauses in between her words.

I nod and quickly rush upstairs to my bedroom. Something is not right here… Maybe it's just me… Maybe it's just my imagination… right?

-xoxo-

I bite my lower lip while hugging my knees close, looking out the window again… It's getting dark… too dark for lunch time… The sky is blanketed by dark, stormy clouds. I quickly hide under the blanket. Maybe I'm going crazy… or something… Or maybe I just watched too many horror movies. I sigh… I can't stay here forever. I'm hungry and I want to go out and feel the sun rather than being cooped up in this stupid room. So about half an hour later, I decided to exit my room and make my way downstairs again. Well, I might as well just buy something to eat from outside…

"Mom? I'm going to go out."

"So soon, Roxas? Lunch is almost ready."

I retch when I see or more likely hallucinate that there are worms and maggots on the counter and on the dining table. "I-I think I'll skip. I'm not really hungry. See you later, mom…" I run out quickly, holding the acid in my stomach.

Once outside, I breathe a sigh of relieve. The sun is signing brightly, but the once crowded streets are empty. Not a lot of people here anymore… I slowly cruise down the street that leads to my school, putting my hands behind my head. I look over and spot Olette. "Hey, 'Lette!" I grin as I run over to her.

Her eyes go wide as she back away. "Roxas…"

I stand right in front of her. "What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost…"

"No, stupid. Quiet down…"

"What's wrong?" I lower my voice.

"Something is wrong here… Can't you feel it?"

"Yeah… It's too quiet… and it feels like something strange is going on. I mean… I might be going crazy, but I've been seeing things… It's weird."

"Things like seeing maggots in your house or like your parents are talking creepily?"

"Y-Yeah… Wait… you feel or… see the same thing too?" I frown slightly.

"Yeah. Something's wrong, Roxas. And I know it's not just my head playing with me. Many people are going missing or… so called _moved_ away. But I don't think they really moved away… I think they're all dead… or something…"

"What? You're talking crazy, Olette. There's no way so many people just died like that and nobody knows or notify some kind of authority about it… right?"

Olette just stares at me. "Believe what you want, Roxas… But I think that mansion up the hill… There's just something strange going on in there and I'm going to find out what. I'm not going to let anything happen to more people in this town."

I look up the mansion. "But that mansion's been abandoned for years, Olette… Remember? We went there to explore when we were kids, but we found nothing but rubbles. And besides… I don't want to go back there…"

"Why? Because of Axel?" Olette narrows her eyes at me.

Xion runs over. "Hey, I thought we agreed since then to not mention anything about Axel anymore." She snarls.

"Hey Xion."

"Hey Rox. Don't listen to Olette talking crazy."

"I'm not talking crazy, Xion. I can't… I…" She groans and walks off. "I'm going home."

I stand there. Axel… That name… It's been a while… "What were you two doing?"

"Olette says that she wants to go to the mansion again. But we all know very well that we are to never go close to that place ever again… And she says that she's been seeing things too… Why does she always insist on bringing that event up? It's just crazy talk."

"… Well… Don't you feel that something strange is up?"

"No. People moving out is totally understandable. Who wants to stay cooped up here in this small town anyway. In fact, I'm surprised that not more people move out already."

"I… guess…"

"Anyways, have you eaten? You wanna go grab some ramen over at Shoju's place?"

"Sure. Ramen sounds good right about now."

Xion smiles and walks over to the direction of the ramen shop. I follow her.

-xoxo-

"Welcome!" Reno greeted from behind the counter where he is kneading and cutting out ramen noodles.

"Hi, Reno." I smile. It's always so impressive how the ramen noodles are made from scratch every day in this place.

"Oh Roxas! My favorite customer." He grins brightly.

Reno is Axel's older brother… …Well, I'm glad that at least he's becoming much nicer now…

"And Xion… of course." His grin dropped.

"You don't seem happy to see me."

Reno shrugs. "Usual miso ramen for you, Roxas?"

"Yes. Thank you." I smile.

"Shoyu ramen for me, please." Xion asks nicely.

"Sure."

If Axel's still here… He would have been the one helping Reno behind the counter. "Reno? Can I help you make the ramen?"

Reno smiles. "Sure. Come behind here."

I can see Xion rolling her eyes as I walk over. I start helping to make the ramen as instructed by Reno. I always feel so guilty about what happened eight years ago. I feel like it is all my fault… I didn't know what happened then… but… I was the one who wanted to go play. Axel ended up going with me to that mansion because he was worried about it. Axel is always the older brother for everyone. He wants to make sure that everyone is safe, but he was always particularly worried about me because growing up, I was never very athletic.

I start kneading the dough with all my strength. "After you've done kneading it, just leave it there and I'll cut out the noodles."

"Yes, sir." I nod.

Axel was there… and then one second, he was missing… The next thing that I know… everybody in the mansion was screaming that Axel slipped and fell… That night, his body was found beneath the cliff, dead. I still remember the shock that overwhelms me. There was nothing I could do. I've never felt so helpless and sad all my life before.

Everybody in the town knew what happened. But as if there was a silent agreement, everybody decide to keep quiet about it and pretend as if nothing ever happened. Like Axel was never there or born to begin with. It was really sad… I would visit his grave every month to bring him his favorite takoyaki.

"Roxas? Roxas?" Reno calls. "… hey."

I jump as Reno puts his hand on my left shoulder. "Y-Yes?"

"Go ahead and eat. That's all you need to do. Your ramen is ready."

"Oh alright. Thanks so much, Reno."

"Yeah. No problem."

I walk over and sit beside Xion, lost in thought as I start eating my ramen. Lunch ensues in silence.

-xoxo-

I walk Xion home, making small talks with her as we walk. She's as sweet and as funny as ever, or at least she tries to be. As we near her front door, she turns around. "Well, here's my house." She smiles softly as she looks into my eyes.

"Yep." I laugh. "Welcome home? Go back home? We should get ramen together again sometimes."

"Yeah, we should. This is the most fun I had in a while."

"Yeah."

"Well, thanks for the lunch, Roxas. Be careful on your way home." She leans over and kisses my cheek.

I feel my cheek heat up for a bit and I smile. "Hey. Yeah. No problem."

"Well, see you. Have a good night, 'kay?"

"Sure." Before she walks inside, I don't know what came over me, but I reach over and grab her wrist while yanking her forcefully towards me. I couldn't even stop myself from doing it. And before I knew it, I was pushing her down on the cemented floor. Her knee meets the ground and bled.

"Ah, Roxas. What the hell?" She says.

My eyes go wide. I blink a couple of times before realizing what I had done. "I… I'm sorry… I… what…" I don't know what to say, just standing there, watching her on the floor.

"Ah… I'm hurt. What the hell, Roxas. Why'd you push me like that?"

"I didn't… I'm so sorry… I…"

"Go home, Roxas. It's been a long day… I'll see you."

I nod and hurry out of there. What was that…? I didn't even… I wasn't even in control of my own body.

-xoxo-

I walk straight to my room after I am home, ignoring what my mom said. It becomes really dark outside and the sky starts to flash as rain starts to pour down from above. I look outside the window. It's getting darker and darker until I can't see anything anymore.

Axel… maybe you're back? Maybe you're back to punish us? To punish us for forgetting about you? Maybe to punish me for making you go to that mansion… If I hadn't insisted to go… You would still be alive… You would probably be in this room with me now… You would be saying that it's okay. It's just some stupid thunder and rain and the town will be sunny again tomorrow.

But because of me… you're not here. Because of me… You fell and slipped to your doom… It's all because of me. I wish I could take your place, Axel. I wish I was the one who died instead of you. I'm so sorry… I'm so stupid…

So… so stupid…

-xoxo-

The next morning, I find myself standing in front of the entrance to the mansion. The ground is still soaking wet from the storm last night. I look up and slowly and cautiously walk forward, pushing the unlocked fence open. I walk to the front door and find it chained. One of the adults must have locked it so no more stupid kids like us play inside.

There must be a way in somewhere… I remember… somewhere around here. I walk around the back to find the hidden entrance to the mansion and once I find it, I am able to let myself in pretty easily. I am in the main hall and there are nothing but rubbles everywhere. It's still in the same condition as it was when I was here a year ago.

I walk upstairs to the spot where Axel fell off. I shudder. The breeze that blows in from the ocean is chilling. I take in a deep breath. Coming here with thin clothing is a bad idea. I hug myself, rubbing my own arms, attempting to keep myself warm.

It… does get a bit slippery here after the rain.

I am standing dangerously close to the edge, looking down. That's… quite a long ways down. I sigh. Axel… it must have hurt… falling down like that. I look back up and am about to walk off before I feel a forceful shove on my back. Losing my own balance, I fall forward and the realization strikes me as I start to free fall down the cliff. I reach up, but can grab nothing but air. I keep falling and falling… until I feel a sharp pain… a sharp pain that I have never ever felt before in my life. The sound of bone cracking and some random body parts breaking rings in my ear as everything becomes dark.

Dark… so dark…

Am I going to be forgotten too?

Am I going to be forgotten like Axel?

-xoxo-


End file.
